Gate.



J. W. MATTHEWS.

GATE.

' APPLICATION FILED FEBA. 1909. 948,788.

Patented Feb. 8, 1910.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

ATTORNEYS INVE/VTOR i. l 2 l l l 1 J. W. MATTHEWS.

GATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, 1909.

Patented. F9 0. 8, 1910.

SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l/VI/ENIOI? 'WaZZ/zewa' WT/VESSES UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTQFQ...

JOSEPH WILLIAM MATTHEWS, 0F BRADY, TEXAS.

GATE.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOSEPH WILLIAM Mirrrnnws, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Brady, in the county of McCulloch and State ofTexas, have invented a new and Improved Gate, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to gates, and more particularly to that class ofgates known as farm gates, which can be opened to permit the passage ofa vehicle, by a person within the vehicle. It constitutes an improvementon my Patent No. 895386, issued August 4, 1908.

More specifically, the invention relates to a gate comprising a fixedstandard, a gate body arranged to swing about the standard, the standardhaving a guideway, a movable crown or sleeve having a guideway andsupporting the gate body, a movable member having a projection engagingboth of the guideways, and suitable means for raising and lowering thecrown from a point remote from the gate body, the means being operableby the occupant of a vehicle, the guideways being so arranged that theupward and downward movement of thecrown swings the gate.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, strong and durablefarm gate which can be opened and shut from points remote from the gateitself, which is positive in operation, and which requires theexpenditure of little effort to close or open it, the gate beingoperable, for example, by the occupant of a vehicle.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts tobe more fully described hereinafter and to be pointed out particularlyin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an em bodiment of my invention,showing the gate closed; Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of theupper part of the standard, showing the gate-controlling crown sleeve;Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the standard and the crown sleeve,showing the hangers connecting the body and the crown in dotted lines;and Figs. 4 to 12 are eleva- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 4, 1909.

Patented Feb. 8, 1910. Serial No. 475,999.

tions showing the upper part of the standard and the crown sleevethereon, and illustrating the parts in different positions, thedirection of movement of the crown sleeve being shown by arrows.

Before proceeding to a more detailed explanation of my invention, itshould be understood that the gate body used in connection with thedevice may be of any common or preferred form, but in the accompanyingillustrations is shown a gate fashioned from wood or the like, and of aspecial three-bar type. If so desired, the gate body may be fashionedfrom metal, wire netting, or any suitable material, providing the bodycan swing freely as will appear hereinafter. While the invention isparticularly useful in connection with farm gates, it is also applicableto similar devices for other purposes; for instance, in connectlon withrailway grade-crossings, warehouse doors, and the like. The arrangementof the gate is such that it can be operated by an occupant of a vehiclewhich it is desired to drive through the gate, and for which purpose thegate must be opened; at the same time it is necessary to manipulate thegate, to close the same after the vehicle has passed therethrough. Whilethis 11ecessitates two operations, it is of advantage in that the gatedoes not prematurely close and interfere with the passage of the vehicleas is often the case when the gate is constructed to swing shutautomatically. I provide levers for opening and closing the gate, onelever being provided at each side of the gate. As will appear in thefollowing and more specific description the movements of the levers bothto open and to close the gate are the same.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 represents the body ofthe gate, consisting of end uprights 11, and bars or horizontal members12. The end uprights comprise spaced strips or slats having the ends ofthe bars secured therebetween by means of nails or screws, or in anyother convenient manner. The bars also consist of spaced strips or slatswhich, near the middle, have therebetween, spaced guide uprights 13. Afixed standard 14 is positioned between the guide uprights 13 and theslats of the bars, so that these parts serve to position the gate bodywith respect to the standard, and permit it to swing freely upon thesame and to slide longitudinally thereof. The standard may consist ofany suitable upright having the lower end buried in the ground, orotherwise mounted in position. The gate posts 15, of any common orpreferred form, are arranged at opposite ends of the gate body and carrycatches 16 adapted to be engaged by latches 17. The latter are securedat the end uprights of the gate body and engage the catches to hold thegate shut, as is shown most clearly in Fig. 1. At each side of the gate,when the same is closed, is located a post or upright 18, the upper endof which is bifurcated and pivotally carries a lever 19. Each of theselevers has one end normally positioned adjacent to the end of thestandard. The other end of the lever has depending therefrom a line orcord 20, having a knob 21 at the lower end and constituting a pull bymeans of which the lever can be manipulated from a vehicle. Each of theposts 18 has a catch 22 adapted to receive one of the latches 17 to holdthe gate open when the gate body is swung into position against theuprights and at substantially right angles with its closed position. The

standard 1 1 at the upper end carries a rigid inner or fixed sleeve 23,fashioned from any suitable material and extending upwardly beyond thestandard. An outer movable crown or sleeve 24, having the upper endclosed and provided with a rigid eye 25, is arranged about the sleeve23. The levers 19 at their adjacent ends have eyes 26, which areconnected by means of suitable links 27 with the eye 25, so that thelevers 19 control the crown. The links 27 may be of any suitable formand consist preferably of wire or the like. At opposite sides the crownhas further eyes 28, at which are loosely secured rods 29 constitutinglinks and having the lower ends similarly attached at I-brackets 30. Thelatter have bifurcated parts 31 mounted upon the upper gate body bar 12.The links 29 at the ends have eyes for attaching to the eyes 28 and tothe brackets 30. It will be seen that through the provision of the linksthe crown 2 1 controls the gate body. The crown may be fashioned fromany suitable material such as cast metal or the like, and preferably hasthe eyes 25 and 2S integral therewith.

The inner or fixed sleeve 23 at opposite sides has guideways 32 formedthereon. These guideways consist of Vshaped slots, the apexes of whichpoint downward and the sides 33 of which are substantially helical. Eachof the sides at the upper end has a laterally disposed extension 3 1,for a purpose which will appear more fully hereinafter. The crown atopposite sides has guideways 35, consisting of V-shaped slots, theapexes of which are downward, and the sides 36 of which form part ofhelices. Each of the guideways 35 corresponds to a guideway 32 and hasthe sides similarly inclined with respect to the sides of the guidewayto which it corresponds. lVithin the inner sleeve 23 is loosely arrangeda block or member 37, which has a transverse pin 38, the ends 39 ofwhich extend through the guide slots of the fixed sleeve and the crownsleeve. It will be understood that the member 37 may be of any suitableform and may have projections which take the place of the ends of thepin 38. If so desired, the member may be cast from any suitable metaland have the projections integral therewith.

The weight of the gate body tends to maintain the crown sleeve in anormally depressed position, such that the ends 39 of the pin rest atthe apexes of the guideways of the fixed sleeve and at the upper ends ofthe corresponding guideways of the crown, as is shown most clearly inFigs. 2, 1 and 8. hen one of the lines 20 is pulled downward thecorresponding lever is actuated to raise the crown, and at the same timeto lift the gate body, moving it slidably upward upon the standard. Thismovement of the gate body disengages the latches 17 so that the gate isfree to swing. The upward move ment of the crown causes the guideways ofthe same to move along the pin ends 39, and owing to the helicalformation of the guide way sides, the crown is thereby rotated. Thisrotary movement tends to swing the gate about the standard. l vhen thelower ends of the guideways of the crown come into en gagement with theextremities of the pin 38, the latter are forced upward in the guidewaysof the fixed sleeve, and owing to the form of these, the crown isthereby further rotated, so that the gate is swung open and against theuprights 18. The final move ment of the crown forces the pin ends intothe extensions 34. lVhen the lever is released, the downward pull of thegate upon the crown causes the latter to move down ward and the inneredges of the apexes of the crown guideways displace the pin ends fromthe extensions, so that the crown and the member 37 can return to theirinitial depressed positions. The lowering of the gate body also causesthe latches to engage the catches 22 to hold the gate open.

The upward movement of the crown sleeve is accompanied by a rotarymovement of the same, owing to the direction of inclination of the sidesof the guideways engaged by the pin ends 39. During the downward movement of the crown sleeve, the latter has been rotated first in onedirection and then in the other, owing to the fact that the guidewaysides successively engaged by the pin ends during this downward movementare inclined in opposite directions, so that the gate is not swung inone direction or the other during the downward movement of the crownsleeve. The arrangement of the guideways is such that the successiveupward movements of the crown sleeve swing the gate in oppositedirections; for example, the first upward movement of the crown sleevewhen the gate is closed swings it into the open position, from which itis not displaced by the downward movement of the crown sleeve. The nextupward movement of the crown sleeve causes the opposite sides of theguideways to become active to swing the gate shut, or in the oppositedirection, and it is not displaced from the closed position by thesubsequent downward movement of the crown. It will thus be seen that thegate is opened and shut by the same manipulation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,

1. A gate, comprising a movable gate body, a standard, a fixed guidemember, a movable guide member, a guided membei movable within saidfixed guide member, said guide members each having a closed guideway,said guided member having a part engaging said guideways, meansconnecting one of said guide members and said gate body, and furthermeans for operating one of said guide members from a point remote fromsaid gate body.

2. A gate, comprising a movable gate body, a standard, a fixed sleevecarried by said standard and extending above the same, a movable sleeveoutside of said fixed sleeve, a member movable within said fixed sleeve,said sleeves having closed guideways, said member having project-ionsengaging said guideways, means connecting said movable sleeve and saidgate body, and further means for operating said movable sleeve from apoint remote from said gate body.

3. A gate, comprising a swinging gate body, a standard movably carryingsaid gate body and having a guideway, a movable crown having a guideway,a tree movable member having a part arranged guidingly to engage both ofsaid guideways, said crown having said gate body depending therefrom,and a lever for raising said crown, said lever being operable from apoint remote from said gate body, said guideways being helical andhaving parts inclined in opposite directions.

4. A gate, comprising a swinging gate body, a standard having a guidewaycomprising oppositely disposed helical parts, a movable crown carried bysaid standard and having a guideway comprising oppositely disposedhelical parts, a movable member having a projection engaging both ofsaid guideways, hangers for supporting said gate body from said crown,and a lever controlling said crown and operable from a point remote fromsaid gate body, one of said guideways having an extension adapted toreceive said projection, whereby said projection is temporarily heldagainst movement longitudinally of said standard.

5. A gate, comprising a standard, a gate body arranged to swing aboutsaid standard and to move longitudinally of the same, catches forholding said gate in a plurality of positions, a hollow member rigidwith said standard and having a closed guideway, a movable crown sleeveencompassing said hollow member and having a closed guideway, hangersconnecting said crown sleeve and said gate body, a movable member withinsaid hollow member and having a projection engaging both of saidguideways, and a lever controlling said crown sleeve to raise the sameand operable from a point remote from said gate body, said gate bodytending gravitatingly to maintain said crown sleeve in a normallydepressed pos.i tion.

6. A gate, comprising a standard, a gate body arranged to swing aboutsaid standard and to move longitudinally of the same, catches forholding said gate in a plurality of positions, a hollow member rigidwith said standard and having a guideway, a movable crown sleeveencompassing said hollow member and having a guideway, hangersconnecting said crown sleeve and said gate body, a movable member withinsaid hollow member and having a projection engaging both of saidguideways, and a lever controlling saidcrown sleeve to raise the sameand operable from a point remote from said gate body, said gate bodytending gravitatingly to maintain said crown sleeve in a normallydepressed position, said guideways each being of V-shape and having thesides oppositely disposed and helical, said guideway of said hollowmember at the upper ends having lateral extensions adapted to receivesaid projections to hold the same operative, said guideway of said crownsleeve being arranged to displace said projections from said extensionsthrough the downward movement of said crown sleeve.

7. A gate, comprising a standard, a gate body arranged to swing aboutsaid standard, a sleeve rigid with said standard and having a guideslot, a crown sleeve movably carried by said standard and having a guideslot, hangers connecting said crown sleeve and said gate body, and amember movable within said sleeve rigid with said standard, and having aprojection extending through said guide slots, said guide slots eachconsisting of connected, oppositely disposed helical parts.

8. A gate, comprising a standard, a gate body arranged to swing aboutsaid standard and to move longitudinally of the same, a sleeve rigidwith said standard and extend ing above the same, a sleeve movable uponsaid standard and having hangers for supporting said gate body, saidsleeves each having a plurality of guide slots, a member movable Withinsaid first sleeve and having projections extending through said guideslots, said guide slots being of V-shape, said guide slots of said firstsleeve at the upper extremity having laterally disposed extensionsadapted to receive said projections of said member, to hold the sametemporarily against movement longitudinally of said standard, and leversfor raising said movable sleeve to open and close the gate.

9. In a gate, a gate body comprising end uprights, horizontalbarsconnecting said uprights and each consisting of spaced members, andguide uprights arranged between said members intermediate the ends ofsaid bars, said members and said guide uprights constituting means forguidingly mounting said body upon a standard.

10. In a gate, a gate body comprising end uprights, each consisting ofspaced members, horizontal bars each consisting of spaced members havingthe ends secured between said spaced members of said end uprights, guideuprights arranged between said members of said horizontal barsintermediate the ends thereof, said guide uprights being spaced, and astandard received between said guide uprights and said members of saidhorizontal bars whereby said body is arranged to swing about saidstandard and to move longitudinally thereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH WILLIAM MATTHEWS.

Vitnesses OARLITA M. MATTHEws, E. R. GROOKETT.

